Special Operations Executive
Special Operations Executive | |
---|---|
Active | 22 July 1940 – 15 January 1946 |
Country | United Kingdom |
Type | Special forces[1] |
Role |
|
Size | Approximately 13,000 employees |
Nickname(s) | "The Baker Street Irregulars" "Churchill's Secret Army" "Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare" |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | Frank Nelson Charles Jocelyn Hambro Colin Gubbins |
Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a British organisation formed in 1940 to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in German-occupied Europe and to aid local resistance movements during World War II.
SOE personnel operated in all territories occupied or attacked by the Axis powers, except where demarcation lines were agreed upon with Britain's principal Allies, the United States and the Soviet Union. SOE made use of neutral territory on occasion, or made plans and preparations in case neutral countries were attacked by the Axis. The organisation directly employed or controlled more than 13,000 people, about 3,200 of whom were women.[2]
The organisation was dissolved in 1946. A memorial to those who served in SOE was unveiled in 1996 on the wall of the west cloister of
History
Origins
The organisation was formed from the merger of three existing secret departments, which had been formed shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War. Immediately after Germany annexed Austria (the
These three departments worked with few resources until the outbreak of war. There was much overlap between their activities. Section D and EH duplicated much of each other's work. On the other hand, the heads of Section D and MI(R) knew each other and shared information.[6] They agreed to a rough division of their activities; MI(R) researched irregular operations that could be undertaken by regular uniformed troops, while Section D dealt with truly undercover work.[7][8]
During the early months of the war, Section D was based first at
Formation
On 13 June 1940, at the instigation of newly appointed Prime Minister
One department of MI(R), MI R(C), which was involved in the development of weapons for irregular warfare, was not formally integrated into SOE but became an independent body codenamed
Leadership
The director of SOE was usually referred to by the initials "CD". Nelson, the first director to be appointed, was a former head of a trading firm in India, a
In February 1942 Dalton was removed as the political head of SOE (possibly because he was using SOE's phone tapping facility to listen to conversations of fellow
Hambro had been a close friend of Churchill before the war and had won the
As part of the subsequent closer ties between the
Organisation
Headquarters
The organisation of SOE continually evolved and changed during the war. Initially, it consisted of three broad departments: SO1 (formerly Department EH, which dealt with propaganda); SO2 (formerly Section D, operations); and SO3 (formerly MI R, research).[28] SO3 was quickly overloaded with paperwork[17] and was merged into SO2. In August 1941, following quarrels between the Ministry of Economic Warfare and the Ministry of Information over their relative responsibilities, SO1 was removed from SOE and became an independent organisation, the Political Warfare Executive.[29]
Thereafter, a single, broad "Operations" department controlled the Sections operating into enemy and sometimes neutral territory, and the selection and training of agents. Sections, usually referred to by code letters or groups of letters, were assigned to a single country. Some enemy-occupied countries had two or more sections assigned to deal with politically disparate resistance movements. (France had no less than six). For security purposes, each section had its own headquarters and training establishments.[30] This strict compartmentalisation was so effective that in mid-1942 five governments in exile jointly suggested that a single sabotage organisation be created, and were startled to learn that SOE had been in existence for two years.[31]
Four departments and some smaller groups were controlled by the director of scientific research, Professor Dudley Maurice Newitt, and were concerned with the development or acquisition and production of special equipment.[32] A few other sections were involved with finance, security, economic research and administration, although SOE had no central registry or filing system. When Gubbins was appointed director, he formalised some of the administrative practices which had grown in an ad hoc fashion and appointed an establishment officer to oversee the manpower and other requirements of the various departments.[33]
The main controlling body of SOE was its council, consisting of around fifteen heads of departments or sections. About half of the council were from the armed forces (although some were specialists who were only commissioned after the outbreak of war), the rest were various civil servants, lawyers, or business or industrial experts. Most of the members of the council, and the senior officers and functionaries of SOE generally, were recruited by word of mouth among public school alumni and Oxbridge graduates,[34][18] although this did not notably affect SOE's political complexion.[35]
Subsidiary branches
Several subsidiary SOE headquarters and stations were set up to manage operations which were too distant for London to control directly. SOE's operations in the Middle East and
An SOE station, which was first called the India Mission, and was subsequently known as GS I(k) was set up in
New York City also had a branch office, formally titled
Aims
As with its leadership and organisation, the aims and objectives of SOE changed throughout the war, although they revolved around sabotaging and subverting the Axis war machines through indirect methods. SOE occasionally carried out operations with direct military objectives, such as
Dalton's initial statement about outline of methods to be used by SOE's was "industrial and military sabotage, labor agitation and strikes, continuous propaganda, terrorist attacks against traitors ands German leaders, boycotts and riots."[40] Dalton's early enthusiasm for fomenting widespread strikes, civil disobedience and sabotage in Axis-occupied areas[41] had to be curbed. Thereafter, there were two main aims, often mutually incompatible; sabotage of the Axis war effort, and the creation of secret armies which would rise up to assist the liberation of their countries when Allied troops arrived or were about to do so. It was recognised that acts of sabotage would bring about reprisals and increased Axis security measures which would hamper the creation of underground armies. As the tide of war turned in the Allies' favour, these underground armies became more important.[42]
Relationships
At the government level, SOE's relationships with the
Early attempts at bureaucratic control of Jefferis's MIR(c) by the Ministry of Supply were eventually foiled by Churchill's intervention.[44] Thereafter, the Ministry co-operated, though at arm's length, with Dudley Newitt's various supply and development departments.[45] The Treasury were accommodating from the start[46] and were often prepared to turn a blind eye to some of SOE's questionable activities.[47]
With other military headquarters and commands, SOE cooperated fairly well with
Towards the end of the war, as Allied forces began to liberate territories occupied by the Axis and in which SOE had established resistance forces, SOE also liaised with and to some extent came under the control of the Allied theatre commands. Relationships with Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force in north-west Europe (whose commander was General Dwight D. Eisenhower) and South East Asia Command (whose commander was Admiral Louis Mountbatten, already well known to SOE) were generally excellent. [50] However, there were difficulties with the Commanders in Chief in the Mediterranean, partly because of the complaints over impropriety at SOE's Cairo headquarters during 1941[51] and partly because both the supreme command in the Mediterranean and SOE's establishments were split in 1942 and 1943, leading to divisions of responsibility and authority.[52]
There was tension between SOE and SIS, which the Foreign Office controlled.
Even before the United States joined the war, the head of the newly formed Office of the Coordinator of Information (COI), William J. Donovan, had received technical information from SOE and had arranged for some members of his organisation to undergo training at a camp run by SOE in Oshawa in Canada.[55] In early 1942, Donovan's organisation became the Office of Strategic Services. SOE and OSS worked out respective areas of operation: OSS's exclusive sphere included China (including Manchuria), Korea and Australia, the Atlantic islands and Finland. SOE retained India, the Middle East and East Africa, and the Balkans. While the two services both worked in Western Europe, it was expected that SOE would be the leading partner.[56]
In the middle of the war, the relations between SOE and OSS were not often smooth. They established a joint headquarters in Algiers but the officers of the two organisations working there refused to share information with each other.[57] In the Balkans, and Yugoslavia especially, SOE and OSS several times worked at cross-purposes, reflecting their governments' differing (and changing) attitudes to the Partisans and Chetniks. However, in 1944 SOE and OSS successfully pooled their personnel and resources to mount Operation Jedburgh, providing large scale support to the French Resistance following the Normandy landings.[58]
SOE had some nominal contact with the Soviet NKVD, but this was limited to a single liaison officer at each other's headquarters.[55]
Locations
Baker Street
After working from temporary offices in Central London, the headquarters of SOE was moved on 31 October 1940 into 64 Baker Street (hence the nickname "the Baker Street Irregulars"). Ultimately, SOE occupied much of the western side of Baker Street. "Baker Street" became the euphemistic way of referring to SOE. The precise nature of the buildings remained concealed; it had no entry in the telephone directories, and correspondence to external bodies bore service addresses; MO1 (SP) (a War Office branch), NID(Q) (Admiralty), AI10 (Air Ministry), or other fictitious bodies or civilian companies.[17]
SOE maintained a large number of training, research and development or administrative centres. It was a joke that "SOE" stood for "Stately 'omes of England", after the large number of country houses and estates it requisitioned and used.
Production and trials
The establishments connected with experimentation and production of equipment were mainly concentrated in and around Hertfordshire and were designated by roman numbers.[59] The main weapons and devices research establishments were The Firs, the home of MD1, formerly MIR(C), near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire (although this was not formally part of SOE), and Station IX at The Frythe, a country house (and former private hotel) outside Welwyn Garden City where, under the cover name of ISRB (Inter Services Research Bureau), SOE developed radios, weapons, explosive devices and booby traps.[60]
Section D originally had a research station at
Station XV, at the Thatched Barn near Borehamwood, was devoted to camouflage, which usually meant equipping agents with authentic local clothing and personal effects.[64] Various sub-stations in London were also involved in this task.[65] Station XV and other camouflage sections also devised methods of hiding weapons, explosives or radios in innocuous-seeming items.[66]
Agents also needed identity papers, ration cards, currency and so on. Station XIV, at Briggens House near Roydon in Essex, was originally the home of STS38, a training facility for Polish saboteurs, [67]) who set up their own forgery section. As the work expanded, it became the central forgery department for SOE and the Poles eventually moved out on 1 April 1942. The technicians at Station XIV included a number of ex-convicts.[68]
Training and operations
The training establishments, and properties used by country sections, were designated by Arabic numbers and were widely distributed.[59] The initial training centres of SOE were at country houses such as Wanborough Manor, Guildford. Agents destined to serve in the field underwent commando training at Arisaig in Scotland, where they were taught armed and unarmed combat skills by William E. Fairbairn and Eric A. Sykes, former Inspectors in the Shanghai Municipal Police. Those who passed this course received parachute training by STS 51 and 51a situated near Altrincham, Cheshire with the assistance of No.1 Parachute Training School RAF,[69][page needed] at RAF Ringway (which later became Manchester Airport). They then attended courses in security and Tradecraft at Group B schools around Beaulieu in Hampshire.[70] Finally, depending on their intended role, they received specialist training in skills such as demolition techniques or Morse code telegraphy at various country houses in England.
SOE's Cairo branch established a commando and parachute training school numbered STS 102 at Ramat David near Haifa. This school trained agents who joined SOE from among the armed forces stationed in the Middle East, and also members of the Special Air Service and Greek Sacred Squadron.[71]
A commando training centre similar to Arisaig and run by Fairbairn[72] was later set up at Oshawa, for Canadian members of SOE and members of the newly created American organisation, the Office of Strategic Services.
Agents
A variety of people from all classes and pre-war occupations served SOE in the field. The backgrounds of agents in F Section, for example, ranged from aristocrats such as Polish-born Countess Krystyna Skarbek, and Noor Inayat Khan, the daughter of an Indian Sufi leader, to working-class people such as Violette Szabo and Michael Trotobas, with some even reputedly from the criminal underworld. Some of them were recruited by word of mouth among the acquaintances of SOE's officers, others responded to routine trawls of the armed forces for people with unusual languages or other specialised skills.[73]
In most cases, the primary quality required of an agent was a deep knowledge of the country in which he or she was to operate, and especially its language, if the agent was to pass as a native of the country.
Several of SOE's agents were from the Jewish Parachutists of Mandate Palestine, some of whom were émigrés from countries in Europe. Thirty-two of them served as agents in the field, seven of whom were captured and executed.[74]
Exiled or escaped members of the armed forces of some occupied countries were obvious sources of agents. This was particularly true of Norway and the Netherlands. In other cases (such as Frenchmen owing loyalty to Charles de Gaulle and especially the Poles), the agents' first loyalty was to their leaders or governments in exile, and they treated SOE only as a means to an end. This could occasionally lead to mistrust and strained relations in Britain.
The organisation was prepared to ignore almost any contemporary social convention in its fight against the Axis. It employed known homosexuals,[75] people with criminal records (some of whom taught skills such as picking locks),[76] those with bad conduct records in the armed forces, Communists, and anti-British nationalists. Some of them might have been considered a security risk, but no known case exists of an SOE agent wholeheartedly going over to the enemy. The Frenchman, Henri Déricourt, is widely regarded as a traitor, but he was exonerated by a war crimes court, and some have claimed he was acting under secret orders from SOE or MI6.[citation needed]
SOE was also far ahead of contemporary attitudes in its use of women in armed combat. Although women were first considered only as couriers in the field, or as wireless operators or administrative staff in Britain, those sent into the field were trained in the use of weapons and in unarmed combat. Most were commissioned into either the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) or the Women's Auxiliary Air Force.[77] Women often assumed leadership roles in the field. Pearl Witherington became the organiser (leader) of a highly successful resistance network in France.[78][79] Early in the war, American Virginia Hall functioned as the unofficial nerve center of several SOE networks in Vichy France.[80] Many women agents such as Odette Hallowes or Violette Szabo were decorated for bravery, posthumously in Szabo's case. Of SOE's 41 (or 39 in some estimates) female agents serving in Section F (France) sixteen did not survive with twelve killed or executed in Nazi concentration camps.[81]
Communications
Radio
Most of the resistance networks which SOE formed or liaised with were controlled by radio directly from Britain or one of SOE's subsidiary headquarters. All resistance circuits contained at least one wireless operator, and all drops or landings were arranged by radio, except for some early exploratory missions sent "blind" into enemy-occupied territory. SOE wireless operators were also known as "The Pianists".
At first, SOE's radio traffic went through the SIS-controlled radio station at Bletchley Park. From 1 June 1942, SOE used its own transmitting and receiving stations at Grendon Underwood in Buckinghamshire and Poundon nearby, as the location and topography were suitable. Teleprinters linked the radio stations with SOE's HQ in Baker Street.[83] Operators in the Balkans worked to radio stations in Cairo.[84]
SOE was highly dependent upon the security of radio transmissions, involving three factors: the physical qualities and capabilities of the radio sets, the security of the transmission procedures and the provision of proper ciphers.
SOE's first radios were supplied by SIS. They were large and clumsy, and required large amounts of power. SOE acquired a few, much more suitable, sets from the Poles in exile, but eventually designed and manufactured their own, such as the
Operating procedures were insecure at first. Operators were forced to transmit verbose messages on fixed frequencies and at fixed times and intervals. This allowed German direction finding teams time to triangulate their positions. After several operators were captured or killed, procedures were made more flexible and secure.[88]
As with their first radio sets, SOE's first ciphers were inherited from SIS.
BBC
The
Other methods
In the field, agents could sometimes make use of the postal services, though these were slow, not always reliable and letters were almost certain to be opened and read by the Axis security services. In training, agents were taught to use a variety of easily available substances to make invisible ink, though most of these could be detected by a cursory examination, or to hide coded messages in apparently innocent letters. The telephone services were even more certain to be intercepted and listened to by the enemy, and could be used only with great care.
The most secure method of communication in the field was by courier. In the earlier part of the war, most women sent as agents in the field were employed as couriers, on the assumption that they would be less likely to be suspected of illicit activities.[90]
Equipment
Weapons
Although SOE used some suppressed weapons such as the De Lisle carbine and the Welrod (specifically developed for SOE at Station IX), it took the view that weapons issued to resisters should not require extensive training in their use, or need careful maintenance. The crude and cheap Sten was a favourite. For issue to large forces such as the Yugoslav Partisans, SOE used captured German or Italian weapons. These were available in large quantities after the Tunisian and Sicilian campaigns and the surrender of Italy, and the partisans could acquire ammunition for these weapons (and the Sten) from enemy sources.
SOE also adhered to the principle that resistance fighters would be handicapped rather than helped by heavy equipment such as
Most SOE agents received training on captured enemy weapons before being sent into enemy-occupied territory. Ordinary SOE agents were also armed with handguns acquired abroad, such as, from 1941, a variety of US pistols, and a large quantity of the Spanish
SOE agents were issued with the Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife also issued to Commandos. For specialised operations or use in extreme circumstances, SOE issued small fighting knives which could be concealed in the heel of a hard leather shoe or behind a coat lapel.[94] Given the likely fate of agents captured by the Gestapo, SOE also disguised suicide pills as coat buttons.
Sabotage
SOE developed a wide range of explosive devices for sabotage, such as limpet mines, shaped charges and time fuses, which were also widely used by commando units. Most of these devices were designed and produced at The Firs.[95] The Time Pencil, invented by Commander A.J.G. Langley, the first commandant of Station XII at Aston[96] was used to give a saboteur time to escape after setting a charge and was far simpler to carry and use than lighted fuses or electrical detonators. It relied on crushing an internal vial of acid which then corroded a retaining wire, which sometimes made it inaccurate in cold or hot conditions. Later the L-Delay, which instead allowed a lead retaining wire to "creep" until it broke and was less affected by the temperature, was introduced.
SOE pioneered the use of plastic explosive. (The term "plastique" comes from plastic explosive packaged by SOE and originally destined for France but taken to the United States instead.) Plastic explosive could be shaped and cut to perform almost any demolition task. It was also inert and required a powerful detonator to cause it to explode, and was therefore safe to transport and store. It was used in everything from car bombs, to exploding rats designed to destroy coal-fired boilers.[97]
Other, more subtle sabotage methods included
Submarines
Station IX developed several miniature submersible craft. The Welman submarine and Sleeping Beauty were offensive weapons, intended to place explosive charges on or adjacent to enemy vessels at anchor. The Welman was used once or twice in action, but without success. The Welfreighter was intended to deliver stores to beaches or inlets, but it too was unsuccessful.[99]
A sea trials unit was set up in West Wales at Goodwick, by Fishguard (station IXa) where these craft were tested. In late 1944 craft were dispatched to Australia to the Allied Intelligence Bureau (SRD), for tropical testing.[100]
Other
SOE also revived some medieval devices, such as the caltrop, which could be used to burst the tyres of vehicles or injure foot soldiers[101] and crossbows powered by multiple rubber bands to shoot incendiary bolts. There were two types, known as "Big Joe" and "Li'l Joe" respectively. They had tubular alloy skeleton stocks and were designed to be collapsible for ease of concealment.[citation needed]
An important section of SOE was Operational Research, which worked mostly from Station IX but also called on the facilities of Station XII and HQ. It operated through the User Trials Section and later the Air Supply Research Section and was formally established in August 1943. The section had the responsibility both for issuing formal requirements and specifications to the relevant development and production sections, and for testing prototypes of the devices under field conditions. It ensured that operational requirements were properly assessed, trials conducted, and quality monitored.[102] Over the period from 1 November 1943 to 1 November 1944, the section tested 78 devices. Some of these were weapons such as the Sleeve gun or fuses or adhesion devices to be used in sabotage, others were utility objects such as waterproof containers for stores to be dropped by parachute, or night glasses (lightweight binoculars with plastic lenses). Of the devices tested, 47% were accepted for use with little or no modification, 31% were accepted only after considerable modification and the remaining 22% were rejected.[103]
Before SOE's research and development procedures were formalised in 1943, a variety of more or less useful devices were developed. Some of the more imaginative devices invented by SOE included exploding pens with enough explosive power to blast a hole in the bearer's body, or guns concealed in tobacco pipes, though there is no record of any of these being used in action. Station IX developed a miniature folding
Transport
The continent of Europe was largely closed to normal travel. Although it was possible in some cases to cross frontiers from neutral countries such as Spain or Sweden, it was slow and there were problems over violating these countries' neutrality. SOE had to rely largely on its own air or sea transport for movement of people, arms and equipment.
Air
SOE had mostly to rely on the RAF for its planes. It was engaged in disputes with the RAF from its early days. In January 1941, an intended ambush (Operation Savanna) against the aircrew of a German "pathfinder" air group near Vannes in Brittany was thwarted when Air Vice Marshal Charles Portal, the Chief of the Air Staff, objected on moral grounds to parachuting what he regarded as assassins,[105] although Portal's objections were later overcome and Savanna was mounted, unsuccessfully. From 1942, when Air Marshal Arthur Harris ("Bomber Harris") became the Commander-in-Chief of RAF Bomber Command, he consistently resisted the diversion of the most capable types of bombers to SOE purposes.[106]
SOE's first aircraft were two Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys belonging to 419 Flight RAF, which was formed in September 1940. In 1941, the flight was expanded to become No. 138 Squadron RAF. In February 1942, they were joined by No. 161 Squadron RAF.[107] 161 Squadron flew agent insertions and pick-ups, while 138 Squadron delivered arms and stores by parachute. "C" flight from No. 138 Squadron later became No. 1368 Flight of the Polish Air Force, which joined No. 624 Squadron flying Halifaxes in the Mediterranean.[108] By the later stages of the war several United States Army Air Forces squadrons were operating Douglas C-47 Skytrains in the Mediterranean, although by this time their operations had passed from SOE proper to the "Balkan Air Terminal Service". Three Special Duties squadrons operated in the Far East using a variety of aircraft, including the very long-range Consolidated B-24 Liberator.[109]
RAF Tempsford
Nos. 161 and 138 Squadrons were based at RAF Tempsford in Bedfordshire though No. 161 Squadron often moved forward to RAF Tangmere, close to the coast in West Sussex, to shorten their flights. The airfield at Tempsford became the RAF's most secret base.[110] (Tempsford had been rejected for Bomber Command's purposes by Harris in March 1942, as it frequently became waterlogged.) [111] RAF Tempsford was designed to look like an ordinary working farm. SOE used Tangmere Cottage, opposite the main entrance to the base. SOE agents were lodged in a local hotel before being ferried to farm buildings, the "Gibraltar Farm" within the airfield's perimeter track. After final briefings and checks at the farm, the agents were issued firearms in the barn, and then boarded a waiting aircraft.[112]
The squadrons' first task was to take agents to France who could select suitable fields for their aircraft. Most of these agents were French expatriates, some of whom had been pilots in the French
161 Squadron operations
The principal aircraft of 161 Squadron was the Westland Lysander.[115] It handled very well at low speed and could land from touch down to turn around in only 150 yards (140 m).[116] It had a range of 700 miles (1,100 km) and could carry one to three passengers in the rear cockpit and stores in a pannier underneath the fuselage. It was flown by a single pilot, who also had to navigate, so missions had to be flown on clear nights with a full or near full moon. Bad weather often thwarted missions, German night fighters were also a hazard, and pilots could never know when landing whether they would be greeted by the resistance or the Gestapo.[117]
The procedure once a Lysander reached its destination in France was described by Squadron Leader Hugh Verity. Once the aircraft reached the airfield the agent on the ground would signal the aircraft by flashing a prearranged code letter in Morse. The aircraft would respond by blinking back the appropriate code response letter. The agent and his men would then mark the field by lighting the three landing lights, which were flashlights attached to poles. The "A" lamp was at the base of the landing ground. 150 metres beyond it and into the wind was the "B" light, and 50 metres to the right of "B" was the "C" light. The three lights formed an inverted "L", with the "B" and "C" lights upwind from "A". With the code passed the pilot would land the aircraft. He then would taxi back to the "A" lamp, where the passengers would clamber down the fixed ladder to the ground, often while the pilot was making a slow U-turn. Before leaving the last passenger would hand off the luggage and then take aboard the outgoing luggage before climbing down the ladder as well. Then the outgoing passengers would climb aboard and the aircraft would take off. The whole exchange might take as little as 3 minutes.[118]
The Lockheed Hudson had a range 200 miles (320 km) or greater, and could carry more passengers (ten or more), but required landing strips more than double the length of those needed for the Lysander - 350 yards (320 m) vs. 150 yards (140 m)).[119] It carried a navigator, to ease the load on the pilot, and could also be fitted with navigational equipment, such as the "Rebecca" homing transceiver of the Rebecca/Eureka transponding radar system. The Hudson's use with 161 Squadron was developed by Charles Pickard and Hugh Verity. Pickard determined that the Hudson's stall speed was actually some 20 miles per hour (32 km/h) slower than its manual stated. Before it was first used on 13 January 1943, 161 Squadron had to send two Lysander aircraft, in what they termed "a double", if larger parties needed to be picked up.[112]
138 Squadron and other Special Duties units operations
No. 138 Squadron's primary mission was the delivery of equipment, and occasionally agents, by parachute. It flew a variety of bomber-type aircraft, often modified with extra fuel tanks and flame-suppressing exhaust shrouds: the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley until November 1942, the Handley Page Halifax and later the Short Stirling. The Stirling could carry a very large load (18 containers[64]) but the aircraft with the longest range was the Halifax, which when based in Italy could reach drop zones as far away as eastern Poland.[120]
Stores were usually parachuted in cylindrical containers. The "C" type was 69 inches (180 cm) long, and when fully loaded could weigh up to 224 pounds (102 kg). The "H" type was the same size overall but could be broken down into five smaller sections. This made it easier to carry and conceal but it could not be loaded with longer loads such as rifles. Some inert stores such as boots and blankets were "free-dropped" i.e. simply thrown out of the aircraft bundled together without a parachute, often to the hazard of any receiving committee on the ground.[109]
Locating and homing equipment
Some devices used by SOE were designed specifically to guide aircraft to landing strips and dropping zones. Such sites could be marked by an agent on the ground with bonfires or bicycle lamps, but this required good visibility, as the pilot or navigator of a plane had not only to spot the ground signals, but also to navigate by visible landmarks to correct dead reckoning. Many landings or drops were thwarted by bad weather. To overcome these problems, SOE and Allied airborne forces used the Rebecca/Eureka transponding radar, which enabled a Hudson or larger aircraft to home in on a point on the ground even in thick weather. It was however difficult for agents or resistance fighters to carry or conceal the ground-based "Eureka" transponder equipment.
SOE also developed the S-Phone, which allowed a pilot or radio operator aboard an aircraft to communicate by voice with the "reception committee". Sound quality was good enough for voices to be recognisable, so that a mission could be aborted in case of any doubts of an agent's identity.[121]
Sea
SOE also experienced difficulties with the Royal Navy, who were usually unwilling to allow SOE to use its submarines or motor torpedo boats to deliver agents or equipment. Submarines were regarded as too valuable to risk within range of enemy coastal defences. They could also carry only small numbers of agents, in great discomfort, and could disembark stores only in small dinghies or canoes, which made it difficult to land large quantities of equipment. SOE nevertheless used them in the Indian Ocean where the distances made it impracticable to use any smaller craft.[122]
The vessels used by SOE during the early part of the war were clandestine craft such as
SOE also had use of HMS Fidelity, a disguised armed merchant ship operated by an independent group of displaced Frenchmen, led by Lt. Cdr Jack Langlais. Together with Belgian agent Albert Guérisse, founder of the Pat O'Leary escape route, Fidelity undertook several clandestine missions in the western Mediterranean in 1941.[124]
After the German occupation of Norway, many Norwegian merchant seamen and fishermen made their way to Britain. SOE recruited several to maintain communications to Norway, using fishing boats from a base in the
SOE also used feluccas to maintain communications between Algiers, and southern France and Corsica, and some caïques in the Aegean.[125]
Operations
France
In France, most agents were directed by two London-based country sections. F Section was under SOE control, while RF Section was linked to
On 5 May 1941 Georges Bégué (1911–1993), a radio operator, became the first SOE agent parachuted into German-occupied France. The American, Virginia Hall, who arrived by boat in August 1941, was the first woman to serve for a lengthy period in France. Andrée Borrel (1919–1944) and Lise de Baissac (1905–2004) became the first women parachuted into France on 24 September 1942. A typical team of a network consisted of an organiser (leader), a radio operator, and a courier. Agents performed a variety of functions including arms and sabotage instructors, couriers, liaison officers and radio operators. Between Bégué's first drop in May 1941 and August 1944, more than 400 F Section agents were sent into occupied France. One hundred and four F section agents lost their lives, mostly by being captured and executed by the Germans. RF sent about the same number of agents; AMF sent 600 (although not all of these belonged to SOE). EU/P and DF sent a few dozen agents each.[127]
Some networks were compromised, with the loss of many agents. In particular agents continued to be sent to the
To support the Allied invasion of France on
It took many weeks for a full assessment of the contributions of SOE and the Jedburgh teams to the Allied landings in Normandy, but when it came it vindicated Gubbins' belief that carefully planned sabotage could cripple a modern army. General Eisenhower's staff at the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force said that the Jedburghs had "succeeded in imposing more or less serious delays on all the divisions moved to Normandy".[131] This had prevented Hitler from striking back in the crucial opening hours of Operation Overlord. The most "outstanding example was the delay to the 2nd SS Panzer Division", Eisenhower's staff said, and added a very personal endorsement, agreeing that the work carried out under Gubbins' leadership played a "very considerable part in our complete and final victory".[131]
Many agents were captured, killed in action, executed, or died in German concentration camps. More than one-third of 41 female agents of Section F did not survive the war; the death toll for more than 400 male agents was one-fourth and the toll of thousands of French people helping SOE agents and networks was about one-fifth.[132][133] Of 119 SOE agents captured by the Germans and deported to concentration camps in Germany, only 23 men and three women survived.[134]
Poland
SOE did not need to instigate Polish resistance, because unlike the
SOE assisted the
Thanks to co-operation between SOE and the
Germany
Due to the dangers and lack of friendly population few operations were conducted in Germany itself. The German and Austrian section of SOE was run by Lieutenant Colonel Ronald Thornley for most of the war, and was mainly involved with
Several major operations were planned, including
In Austria a resistance group formed around Kaplan Heinrich Maier. The Maier group was informed very early about the mass murder of Jews through its contacts with the Semperit factory near Auschwitz. SOE was in contact with this resistance group through its colleague G. E. R. Gedye in 1943, but was not convinced of the reliability of the contact and did not cooperate due to security concerns.[137][138][139]
The Netherlands
Section N of SOE ran operations in the Netherlands. They committed some of SOE's worst blunders in security, which allowed the Germans to capture many agents and much sabotage material, in what the Germans called the 'Englandspiel'. SOE ignored the absence of security checks in radio transmissions, and other warnings that the Germans were running the supposed resistance networks. A total of 50 agents were caught by the Germans and brought to Camp Haaren in the South of the Netherlands. Five captured men managed to escape from the camp. Two of them, Pieter Dourlein and Ben Ubbink, escaped on 29 August 1943 and found their way to Switzerland. There, the Netherlands Embassy sent messages over their controlled sets to England that SOE Netherlands was compromised. SOE set up new elaborate networks, which continued to operate until the Netherlands were liberated at the end of the war. In September 1944, as allied military forces were advancing into the Netherlands, the remaining captured SOE agents were taken by the Germans from Camp Haaren to Mauthausen concentration camp and executed.
From September 1944 to April 1945, eight Jedburgh teams were also active in the Netherlands. The first team, code named "Dudley" was parachuted into the east of the Netherlands one week before Operation Market Garden. The next four teams were attached to the Airborne forces that carried out Market Garden. After the failure of Market Garden, one Jedburgh team trained (former) resistance men in the liberated South of the Netherlands. In April 1945 the last two Dutch Jedburgh teams became operational. One team code named "Gambling", was a combined Jedburgh/Special Air Service (SAS) group that was dropped into the centre of the Netherlands to assist the Allied advance. The last team was parachuted into the Northern Netherlands as part of SAS operation "Amherst".[140] Despite the fact that operating in the flat and densely populated Netherlands was very difficult for the Jedburghs, the teams were quite successful.[141]
Belgium
Section T established some effective networks in Belgium, in part orchestrated by fashion designer
After Brussels was liberated, Amies outraged his superiors by setting up a Vogue photo-shoot in Belgium.[143] In 1946, he was knighted in Belgium for his service with SOE, being named an officer of the Order of the Crown.
Italy
As both an enemy country, and supposedly a monolithic fascist state with no organised opposition which SOE could use, SOE made little effort in Italy before mid-1943,[144] when Mussolini's government collapsed and Allied forces already occupied Sicily.[145][page needed]
Two years earlier, in April 1941, in a mission codenamed "Yak",
During the first three years of war, the most important "episode" of the collaboration between SOE and Italian anti-fascism was a project of an anti-fascist uprising in Sardinia, which SOE supported at some stage but did not receive approval from the Foreign Office.[148]
In the aftermath of the Italian collapse, SOE (in Italy renamed No. 1 Special Force) helped build a large resistance organisation in the cities of Northern Italy, and in the Alps.[149] Italian partisans harassed German forces in Italy throughout the autumn and winter of 1944, and in the Spring 1945 offensive in Italy they captured Genoa and other cities unaided by Allied forces. SOE helped the Italian Resistance send British missions to the partisan formations[150] and supply war material to the bands of patriots, a supply made without political prejudices, and which also helped the Communist formations (Brigate Garibaldi).[151]
Late in 1943, SOE established a base at Bari in Southern Italy, from which they operated their networks and agents in the Balkans. This organisation had the codename "Force 133". This later became "Force 266", reserving 133 for operations run from Cairo rather than the heel of Italy. Flights from Brindisi were run to the Balkans and Poland, particularly once control had been wrested from SOE's Cairo headquarters and was exercised directly by Gubbins. SOE established a new packing station for the parachute containers close to Brindisi Air base, along the lines of those created at Saffron Walden. This was ME 54, a factory employing hundreds, the American (OSS) side of which was known as "Paradise Camp".[3][152][page needed]
Yugoslavia
1941, SOE helped considerably in anti-Axis propaganda and in preparing the
Mihailović was the first to attempt to contact the Allies, and SOE despatched a party on 20 September 1941 under Major "Marko" Hudson. Hudson also encountered Tito's forces. Notable members of this party included actor Christopher Lee.[154] Through the royalist government in exile, SOE at first supported the Chetniks. Eventually, however, due to reports that the Chetniks were less effective and even collaborating with German and Italian forces on occasion, British support was redirected to the Partisans, even before the Tehran Conference in 1943.
Although relations were often touchy throughout the war, it can be argued that SOE's unstinting support was a factor in Yugoslavia's maintaining a neutral stance during the Cold War. However, accounts vary dramatically between all historical works on the "Chetnik controversy".
Hungary
SOE was unable to establish links or contacts in Hungary before the regime of
Two missions subsequently dropped "blind" i.e. without prior arrangement for a reception party, failed. So too did an attempt by Basil Davidson to incite a partisan movement in Hungary, after he made his way there from northeastern Yugoslavia.[156]
Greece
In late 1942, at the army's instigation, SOE mounted its first operation, codenamed
Relations between the resistance groups and the British soured. When the British needed once again to disrupt the railway across Greece as part of the deception operations preceding
EDES received most aid from SOE, but ELAS secured many weapons when Italy collapsed and Italian military forces in Greece dissolved. ELAS and EDES fought a vicious civil war in 1943 until SOE brokered an uneasy armistice (the Plaka agreement).
A lesser known, but important function of SOE in Greece was to inform the Cairo headquarters of the movement of the German military aircraft that were serviced and repaired at the two former Greek military aircraft facilities in and around Athens.[citation needed]
Eventually, the
Several resistance groups and Allied stay-behind parties operated in
Albania
SOE's envoy to Albania, Brigadier Edmund "Trotsky" Davies, was captured by the Germans early in 1944. Some SOE officers warned that Hoxha's aim was primacy after the war, rather than fighting Germans. They were ignored, but Albania was never a major factor in the effort against the Germans.
Czechoslovakia
SOE sent many missions into the
Norway
In March 1941 a group performing commando raids in Norway, Norwegian Independent Company 1 (NOR.I.C.1) was organised under leadership of Captain Martin Linge. Their initial raid in 1941 was Operation Archery, the best known raid was probably the Norwegian heavy water sabotage. Communication lines with London were gradually improved so that by 1945, 64 radio operators were spread throughout Norway.[162]
Denmark
The Danish resistance assisted SOE in its activities in neutral Sweden. For example, SOE was able to obtain several shiploads of vital
Romania
In 1943 an SOE delegation was parachuted into Romania to instigate resistance against the Nazi occupation at "any cost" (
Abyssinia
West Africa
The neutral Spanish island of
Southeast Asia
As early as 1940, SOE was preparing plans for operations in Southeast Asia. As in Europe, after initial Allied military disasters, SOE built up indigenous resistance organisations and guerrilla armies in enemy (
Dissolution
In late 1944, as it became clear that the war would soon be over, Lord Selborne advocated keeping SOE or a similar body in being, and that it would report to the
In view of the Russian menace, the situation in Italy, Central Europe and the Balkans and the smouldering volcanoes in the Middle East, I think it would be madness to allow SOE to be stifled at this juncture. In handing it over to the Foreign Office, I cannot help feeling that to ask Sir Orme Sergent [sic] [shortly to become Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs] to supervise SOE is like inviting an abbess to supervise a brothel! But SOE is no base instrument, it is a highly specialized weapon which will be required by HMG whenever we are threatened and whenever it is necessary to contact the common people of foreign lands.[169]
Churchill took no immediate decision, and after he lost the
SOE was dissolved officially on 15 January 1946. Some of its senior staff moved easily into financial services in the City of London, although some of them had not lost their undercover mentality and did little for the City's name.[171] Most of SOE's other personnel reverted to their peacetime occupations or regular service in the armed forces, but 280 of them were taken into the "Special Operations Branch" of MI6. Some of these had served as agents in the field, but MI6 was most interested in SOE's training and research staff.[172] Sir Stewart Menzies, the head of MI6 (who was generally known simply as "C") soon decided that a separate Special Operations branch was unsound, and merged it into the general body of MI6.[172]
Gubbins, the last director, was not given further employment by the Army, but he later founded the Special Forces Club for former members of SOE and similar organisations.[171][173]
Wartime commentaries on SOE
Although the wartime British government considered the activities of SOE to be lawful, the German invaders, as in World War I and the War of 1870, argued that those engaging in resistance (local resistance fighters and the agents of foreign governments who supported them) were "bandits" and "terrorists", maintaining that all Francs-tireurs (and said agents) were engaging in an illegal form of warfare, and, as such, had no legal rights.[174] A view expressed by Fritz Sauckel, the General Plenipotentiary for Labour Deployment, making him the man in charge of bringing workers to the factories in Germany for forced labour, who demanded the flight of young French men to the countryside be stopped and called the maquis "terrorists", "bandits" and "criminals" for their opposition to lawful authority.[175]
Later analysis and commentaries
The mode of warfare encouraged and promoted by SOE is considered by several modern commentators to have established the modern model that many alleged terrorist organisations emulate.[13] Two opposed views were quoted by Tony Geraghty in The Irish War: The Hidden Conflict Between the IRA and British Intelligence. M. R. D. Foot, who wrote several official histories of SOE wrote,
The Irish [thanks to the example set by Collins and followed by SOE] can thus claim that their resistance provide the originating impulse for resistance to tyrannies worse than any they had to endure themselves. And the Irish resistance as Collins led it, showed the rest of the world a way to fight wars the only sane way they can be fought in the age of the Nuclear bomb.[14]
The British military historian John Keegan wrote,
We must recognise that our response to the scourge of terrorism is compromised by what we did through SOE. The justification ... That we had no other means of striking back at the enemy ... is exactly the argument used by the Red Brigades, the Baader-Meinhoff gang, the PFLP, the IRA and every other half-articulate terrorist organisation on Earth. Futile to argue that we were a democracy and Hitler a tyrant. Means besmirch ends. SOE besmirched Britain.[176]
Keegan also questioned the effectiveness of SOE. He wrote,
SOE was inefficient as an organization, unnecessarily dangerous to work for, ineffective in its pursuit of its aims, and counter-productive in the results achieved.[177]
Another, later view, on the moral contribution of SOE, was expressed by the writer Max Hastings,
Yet the moral contribution of secret war, which would have been impossible without the sponsorship of SOE and OSS, was beyond price. It made possible the resurrection of self-respect in occupied societies which would otherwise have been forced to look back on the successive chapters of their experience of the conflict through a dark prism; military humiliation, followed by enforced collaboration with the enemy, followed by belated deliverance at the hands of foreign armies. As it was, and entirely thanks to Resistance, all European nations could cherish their cadres of heroes and martyrs, enabling the mass of their citizens who did nothing, or who served the enemy, to be painted over in the grand canvas cherished in the perception of their descendants.[178]
In popular culture
Since the end of the war, SOE has appeared in many films, comics, books, and television.
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Peggy Carter was recommended to SOE by her brother Michael, where she starts her career as a field agent.
British science-fiction author Charles Stross' book series The Laundry Files takes place within the Q-division of SOE (known as the eponymous Laundry) which has remained in operation since WWII, due to their mission to save the world from occult threats.
A Guy Ritchie directed movie called The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is loosely based on SOE missions, starring Henry Cavill as Gus March-Phillipps and Alan Ritchson as Anders Lassen and scheduled to premiere on 19 April 2024.
See also
- Bureau Central de Renseignements et d'Action
- Special Activities Division
- Cichociemni
- Edmund Charaszkiewicz
- Escape and evasion lines (World War II)
- Jewish Parachutists of Mandate Palestine
- John Dolphin CBE
- MI5
- Resistance during World War II
- Special Allied Airborne Reconnaissance Force
- Z Special Unit
- Churchill's Secret Agents: The New Recruits
- Operation Braddock
- Timeline of SOE's Prosper Network
Notes
- ^ "Special Operations Executive". National Army Museum. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
- ^ Foot 2000, p. 62.
- ^ a b "Bust: Violette Szabo & SOE". London Remembers. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
- ^ Smith 2019, p. 25.
- ^ Wilkinson & Astley 2010, pp. 33–34.
- ^ Foot 2000, p. 12.
- ^ Foot 2000, p. 293.
- ^ Atkin 2015, pp. Chapters 2–4.
- ^ Long, Christopher. "'Pat Line' – An Escape & Evasion Line in France in World War II". Christopher Long. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
- ^ Foot 2000, pp. 15–16.
- ^ Foot 1999, p. 17.
- ISBN 022402065X.
- ^ a b c "article by Matthew Carr Author The Infernal Machine: A History of Terrorism". Thefirstpost.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2 December 2008. Retrieved 1 June 2009.
- ^ a b Geraghty 2000, p. 347.
- ^ Hugh Dalton letter to Lord Halifax 2 July 1940; quoted in M. R. D. Foot, SOE in France, p. 8
- ^ a b Wilkinson & Astley 2010, p. 76.
- ^ a b c d Foot 2000, p. 22.
- ^ a b Boyce & Everett 2003, p. 9.
- ^ Milton 2016, pp. 80–87, 163–167.
- ISBN 978-1445603704.
- ^ Milton 2016, p. 89.
- ^ Seymour-Jones 2013, p. 113.
- ^ Stevenson 2006, pp. 193–194.
- ^ Foot 2000, p. 31.
- ^ Hastings 2015, p. 264.
- ^ Milton 2016, pp. 170–171.
- ^ Foot 2000, p. 32.
- ^ a b Smith 2019, p. 24.
- ^ Foot 2000, pp. 24–25.
- ^ Milton 2016, p. 91.
- ^ Foot 2000, p. 152.
- ^ Boyce & Everett 2003, pp. 23–45.
- ^ Wilkinson & Astley 2010, p. 141.
- ^ Foot 2000, pp. 30–35.
- ^ Foot 2000, pp. 47, 148–156.
- ^ a b Foot 2000, pp. 40–41.
- ^ Stafford 2011, pp. 45–51.
- ^ Hastings 2015, pp. 260, 267.
- ^ Hastings 2015, p. 260.
- S2CID 161440851.
- ^ Wilkinson & Astley 2010, p. 80.
- ^ Hastings 2015, p. 279.
- ^ Foot 2000, pp. 35–36.
- ^ Milton 2016, pp. 38, 80, 83.
- ^ Boyce & Everett 2003, pp. 233, 238.
- ^ Foot 2000, p. 26.
- ^ Foot 2000, p. 243.
- ^ Wilkinson & Astley 2010, p. 98.
- ^ Boyce & Everett 2003, pp. 129–158.
- ^ Wilkinson & Astley 2010, pp. 141–145, 191–195.
- ^ Wilkinson & Astley 2010, pp. 90–91.
- ^ Wilkinson & Astley 2010, pp. 138–141.
- ^ Hastings 2015, pp. 264–266.
- ^ Foot 2000, p. 87.
- ^ a b Wilkinson & Astley 2010, p. 95.
- ^ Wallace & Melton 2010, p. 7.
- ^ Hastings 2015, p. 292.
- ^ Boyce & Everett 2003, p. 205.
- ^ a b Boyce & Everett 2003, p. 13.
- ^ Boyce & Everett 2003, p. 15.
- ^ Turner 2011, pp. 40–42.
- ^ Boyce & Everett 2003, p. 14.
- ^ Turner 2011, p. 22.
- ^ a b Boyce & Everett 2003, p. 96.
- ^ Boyce & Everett 2003, p. 97.
- ^ Boyce & Everett 2003, p. 299-300.
- ^ Turner 2017.
- ^ Boyce & Everett 2003, pp. 97–98.
- ^ MacKay 2005.
- ^ Bailey (2008), p. 43
- ^ Bailey (2008), pp. 61–64
- ^ Foot 2000, p. 65.
- ^ Foot 2000, pp. 46, 60.
- ^ United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "Jewish Parachutists from Palestine". Holocaust Encyclopedia. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
- ^ Foot 2000, p. 169.
- ^ Foot 2000, pp. 57, 71.
- ^ Foot 2000, pp. 60–62.
- ^ Olson, Lynne (2017). Last Hope Island. New York: Random House. pp. 272, 344.
- ^ Rossiter, Margaret L. (1986). Women in the Resistance. New York: Praeger. p. 181.
- ^ Gralley, Craig R. (2017). "A Climb to Freedom: A Personal Journey in Virginia Hall's Steps". Studies in Intelligence. 61 (1): 2–3. Retrieved 24 January 2020.[dead link]
- ^ Foot, M. R. D. (1966), SOE in France, London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, pp. 122, 465–469
- ^ Brisson, Richard. "Georges Bégué, MC". campx.ca. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
- ^ Foot 1999, pp. 109–110.
- ^ Foot 1999, p. 108.
- ^ Wilkinson & Astley 2010, pp. 29, 115.
- ^ Foot 2000, pp. 109–110.
- ^ Foot 1999, pp. 108–111.
- ^ Foot 1999, p. 106.
- ^ Foot 1999, pp. 99, 142–143.
- ^ Foot 1999, p. 160.
- ^ Foot 2000, p. 78.
- ^ Foot 2000, p. 77.
- ^ Seaman 2006, p. 27.
- ^ Foot 2000, p. 73.
- ^ Milton 2016, p. 80.
- ^ Turner 2011, p. 17-19.
- ^ Norton-Taylor, Richard (28 October 1999). "How exploding rats went down a bomb and helped British boffins win the Second World War". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
- ^ Foot 2000, pp. 82–83.
- ^ Boyce & Everett 2003, pp. 147–153.
- ^ "Welfreighter". Welfreighter.info. Archived from the original on 22 September 2005. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
- ^ Boyce & Everett 2003, pp. 53–54.
- ^ Boyce & Everett 2003, pp. 159–165.
- ^ Boyce & Everett 2003, pp. 166–167.
- ^ Boyce & Everett 2003, p. 110.
- ^ Wilkinson & Astley 2010, p. 84.
- ^ Foot 2000, p. 94.
- ^ Foot 2000, p. 95.
- ^ Foot 2000, p. 102.
- ^ a b Foot 2000, pp. 95–96.
- ^ Orchard, Adrian. "Group Captain Percy Charles "Pick" Pickard DSO**, DFC 1915 – 1944" (PDF).[permanent dead link]
- ^ Seymour-Jones 2013, p. 5.
- ^ a b Coxon, David (19 May 2016). "Brave Percy was the Wartime Pick of the RAF Bunch". Bognar Regis Observer. Archived from the original on 12 August 2017. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
- ^ "161 Squadron History". Royal Air Force. Archived from the original on 13 August 2017. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
- ^ Gunston 1995.
- ^ "History". Tempsford Memorial. Archived from the original on 13 September 2019. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
- ^ Correll, John T. "The Moon Squadrons". Air Force Magazine. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
- ^ Orchard, Adrian Group Captain Percy Charles "Pick" Pickard DSO**, DFC 1915 – 1944 February 2006
- ^ Verity 1978, pp. 17–18.
- ^ Correll
- ^ Foot 2000, pp. 95, 101–103.
- ^ Foot 2000, pp. 103–104.
- ^ Foot 2000, pp. 92–93.
- ^ Foot 2000, pp. 86–87.
- ^ Richards, pp. 17–19.
- ^ Foot 2000, pp. 90–91.
- ^ "International War Museum", [1], accessed 16 April 2020
- ^ Foot 2000, p. 214.
- ^ "The British Prosper Spy Network: Destroyed to Protect D-Day?". 31 August 2016. Archived from the original on 22 September 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
- ^ Foot 2000, p. 44.
- ^ Foot 2000, pp. 222–223.
- ^ a b Milton 2016, p. 293.
- ^ Purnell (2019), A Woman of No Importance, New York: Viking, p. 131. Purnell and Foot say 39 female agents, but three more should probably be considered agents.
- ^ Foot, M.R.D. (1966), SOE in France, London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, pp. 465–469.
- S2CID 143669292.
- ^ "Grojanowski Report" (PDF). Yad Vashem. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 November 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
- ^ Orpen 1984.
- ^ Peter Broucek "Die österreichische Identität im Widerstand 1938–1945" (2008), p 163.
- ^ Hansjakob Stehle "Die Spione aus dem Pfarrhaus" (German: The spy from the rectory)" In: Die Zeit, 5 January 1996.
- ISBN 978-3-643-50010-6, p 117.
- ^ Hooiveld 2016, p. 199.
- ^ Hooiveld 2016, p. 228.
- ^ Edwin Amies biography Archived 31 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine, GLBT&Q website
- ^ Day, Peter (29 April 2003). "How secret agent Hardy Amies stayed in Vogue during the war". The Telegraph. London (UK). Retrieved 23 August 2017.
- ^ Berrettini, Mireno (2008). "Set Europe Ablaze! Lo Special Operations Executive e l'Italia 1940–1943". Italia Contemporanea. 253. Italy: 409–434.
- ^ Berrettini 2010.
- ^ Crowdy 2008.
- ^ Berrettini, Mireno (2010). ""To set Italy Ablaze!" Special Operations Executive e i reclutamenti di agenti tra Enemy Aliens e Prisoners of War italiani (Regno Unito, Stati Uniti e Canada)". Altreitalie. XL. Italy: 5–25.
- ^ Berrettini, Mireno (1955). "Diplomazia clandestina: Emilio Lussu ed Inghilterra nei documenti dello Special Operations Executive, saggio introdutivo a E. LUSSU, Diplomazia clandestina". Firenze. Italy: 7–18.
- ^ M. Berrettini, Special Operations Executive, Special Force, Antifascismo italiano e Resistenza partigiana
- ^ Berrettini, Mireno (2007). "Le missioni dello Special Operations Executive e la Resistenza italiana". QF Quaderni di Farestoria. 3. Italy: 27–47.
- ^ Berrettini, Mireno (2009). "La Special Force britannica e la "questione" comunista nella Resistenza italiana". Studi e ricerche di storia. 71. Italy: 37–62.
- ^ Warren 1947.
- ^ Stafford, David A. T (27 January 2017). "SOE and British Involvement in the Belgrade Coup d'État of March 1941" (PDF). Cambridge University Press.
- ^ "Christopher Lee talks Special Forces and receives an incredible gift". YouTube. Archived from the original on 4 November 2021. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
- ^ Foot 2000, p. 204.
- ^ Foot 2000, p. 205.
- ^ Ball 2010, p. 104.
- ^ "Auckland War Memorial Museum".
- ^ Field, Gordon-Creed & Creed 2012.
- ^ Foot 2000, p. 236.
- ^ "Secret War Exhibition, Imperial War Museum, London".
- ^ Ian Herrington, Special Operations in Norway: SOE and Resistance in World War II (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019) online review
- ^ Boyce & Everett 2003, pp. 220, 221.
- ^ "Autonomous | Operations & Codenames of WWII". codenames.info. Archived from the original on 25 September 2017. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
- ^ Milton 2016, pp. 128–145.
- ^ Berg, Sanchia (28 August 2008). "Churchill's top secret agency". BBC Radio 4 – Today. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
- ^ Wilkinson & Astley 2010, pp. 221–223.
- ^ Hastings 2015, p. 537.
- ^ Wilkinson & Astley 2010, p. 232.
- ^ Foot 2000, p. 245.
- ^ a b Foot 2000, p. 246.
- ^ a b Berg, Sanchia (13 December 2008). "Churchill's secret army lived on". BBC Radio 4 – Today. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
- ^ Wilkinson & Astley 2010, pp. 238–240.
- ^ Crowdy 2007, p. 26.
- ^ Ousby 2000, pp. 264–5.
- ^ Geraghty 2000, p. 346.
- ISBN 0060540885.
- ^ Hastings 2015, p. 557.
References
Official publications/academic histories
- Allan, Stuart (2007). Commando Country. ISBN 978-1-905267-14-9.
- Bailey, Roderick (2014). Target Italy: The Secret War against Mussolini, 1940–1943. Faber & Faber. ISBN 978-0571299188.
- Berrettini, Mireno (2010). La Gran Bretagna e l'Antifascismo italiano. Diplomazia clandestina, Intelligence, Operazioni Speciali (1940–1943) (in Italian). Italy: Le Lettere. ISBN 978-8860873729.
- Boyce, Frederic; Everett, Douglas (2003). SOE: The Scientific Secrets. Sutton. ISBN 0-7509-4005-0.
- Crowdy, Terry (2008). SOE Agent: Churchill's secret warriors. Warrior 133. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 978-1846032769.
- Cruikshank, Charles (1983). SOE in the Far East. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-215873-2.
- Cruikshank, Charles (1986). SOE in Scandinavia. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-215883-X.
- ISBN 0-7126-6585-4.
- Foot, M. R. D. (2000). SOE in France. Frank Cass. ISBN 0-7146-5528-7.
- Herrington, Ian. Special Operations in Norway: SOE and Resistance in World War II (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019) online review
- Hooiveld, Jelle (2016). Dutch courage: Special Forces in the Netherlands 1944–45. Stroud: Amberley Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4456-5741-7.online book review]
- MacKay, Francis (2005). Overture to Overlord – The Preparations of D-Day: North West Europe (Special Operations World War Two). Barnsley: Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-0850528923.
- Mackenzie, William (2000). The Secret History of SOE: Special Operations Executive 1940–1945. BPR Publications. ISBN 0-9536151-8-9.
- Orpen, Neil D. (1984). Airlift to Warsaw: The Rising of 1944. Norman, OK (US): University of Oklahoma. ISBN 978-0806119137.
- Rigden, Denis (2001). SOE Syllabus: Lessons in Ungentlemanly Warfare World War II. Secret History Files, National Archives. ISBN 1-903365-18-X.
- Stafford, David (2011). Mission Accomplished: SOE and Italy 1943–45. The Bodley Head. ISBN 978-1-84792-065-2.
- Stafford, David (2000). Secret Agent: the true story of the Special Operations Executive. BBC Worldwide Ltd. ISBN 0-563-53734-5.
- Steinacher, Gerald (2002). "Passive Grumbling, rather than Resisting: the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in Austria 1940–1945". International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence. XV: 211–221. S2CID 154464522. Archived from the originalon 19 May 2009. Retrieved 21 November 2006.
- Turner, Des (2011). SOE's Secret Weapons Centre: Station 12. Stroud: The History Press. ISBN 978-0752459448.
- Valentine, Ian (2006). Station 43: Audley End House and SOE's Polish Section. Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-7509-4255-X.
- Walker, Jonathan (2008). Poland Alone: Britain, SOE and the Collapse of the Polish Resistance, 1944. The History Press. ISBN 978-1-86227-474-7.
- Wallace, Robert; Melton, H. Keith (2010). Spycraft: inside the CIA's top secret Spy Lab. London: Bantam. ISBN 978-0553820072.
- Warren, Harris G. (1947). Special Operations: AAF Aid To European Resistance Movements, 1943–1945 (U.S. Air Force Historical Study No. 121). US Army Air Force.
- ISBN 978-1-84884-421-6.
First-hand accounts by those who served with SOE
- Bailey, Roderick (2008). Forgotten Voices of the Secret War. Ebury Press. ISBN 978-0-09-191851-4.
- Baden-Powell, Dorothy (2004). They Also Serve: an SOE Agent in the WRNS. Robert Hale. ISBN 978-0-7090-7715-2.
- Chapman, Freddie Spencer (1949). The Jungle is Neutral. Chatto and Windus.
- Churchill, Peter (1952). Of Their Own Choice. Hodder and Stoughton.
- Churchill, Peter (1953). Duel of Wits. Hodder and Stoughton.
- Churchill, Peter (1954). The Spirit in the Cage. Hodder and Stoughton.
- ISBN 978-1613731581.
- ISBN 0-575-02820-3.
- Davidson, Basil (1946). Partisan Picture. Bedford Books.
- Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor. The 11th Day. Archangel Films, 2006.
- Howarth, Patrick (1980). Undercover. Routledge & Kegan Paul. ISBN 0-7100-0573-3.
- Howarth, David Armine(1950). The Shetland Bus. Thomas Nelson.
- Hue, André; Southby-Tailyour, Ewen (2005). The Next Moon: the remarkable true story of a British agent behind the lines in wartime France. Penguin. ISBN 0-14-101580-2.
- ISBN 0-14-013271-6.
- ISBN 0-00-255944-7.
- Moss, William Stanley (1950). Ill Met by Moonlight. Harrap.
- Ousby, Ian (2000). The Ordeal of France, 1940–1944. New York: Cooper Square Press. ISBN 978-0815410430.
- Richards, Brooks (2004). Secret Flotillas; Vol II: Clandestine Sea Operations in the Western Mediterranean, North Africa and the Adriatic, 1940-1944. Whitehall History Publications.
- ISBN 978-0230770904.
- Rootham, Jasper (1946). Miss-Fire. Chatto & Windus.
- ISBN 0-7221-7933-2.
- Sweet-Escott, Bickham (1965). Baker Street Irregular. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd.
- Verity, Hugh (1978). We Landed by Moonlight. Shepperton, Surrey: Ian Allan Limited.
- ISBN 978-0-333-40099-9.
- ISBN 978-0-9557208-1-9.
- Wilkinson, Peter; Foot, M. R. D (2002). Foreign Fields: The Story of an SOE Operative. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-1860647796.
Biographies/popular books by outsiders
- Atkin, Malcolm (2015). Fighting Nazi Occupation: British Resistance 1939–1945. Barnsley: Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1-47383-377-7.
- Ball, Simon (2010). The Bitter Sea: The Brutal World War II Fight for the Mediterranean. New York: Harper Press. ISBN 978-0007203055.: Gives tangential account of SOE's operations in the Mediterranean and its quarrels with other intelligence agencies
- ISBN 0-06-054087-7.
- Christie, Maurice A. (2004). Mission Scapula SOE in the Far East. London. ISBN 0-9547010-0-3.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - Crowdy, Terry (2007), French Resistance Fighter France's Secret Army, London: Osprey, ISBN 978-0-307-40515-9
- Dear, Ian (1996). Sabotage and Subversion. Arms and Armour. ISBN 0-304-35202-0.
- Escott, Beryl (1991). A Quiet Courage: the story of SOE's women agents in France. Patrick Stevens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-289-5.
- ISBN 0-7183-0254-0.
- ISBN 978-0-7041-0004-6.: Tells the story of John Renshaw Starr
- Field, Roger; Gordon-Creed, Geoffrey; Creed, N. (2012). Rogue Male: Sabotage and Seduction behind German Lines with Geoffrey Gordon-Creed, DSO, MC. London: Coronet. ISBN 978-1444706352.
- ISBN 978-1-85532-526-5.
- ISBN 0-316-72497-1.
- Hodgson, Lynn-Philip (2002). Inside Camp X (3rd ed.). Port Perry, Ont.: Blake Books. ISBN 978-0968706251.
- Jones, Liane (1990). Mission Improbable: salute to the Royal Air Force women of Special Operations Executive in wartime France. Bantam Press. ISBN 978-0-593-01663-3.
- Le Chene, Evelyn (1974). Watch for Me by Moonlight. London: Corgi.
- Marshall, Bruce (2000). The White Rabbit. Cassell Military Paperbacks. ISBN 0-304-35697-2.
- McNab, Duncan (2011). Mission 101. Pan Macmillan (Australia). Reissued by The History Press, 2012.
- ISBN 0-340-83015-8.
- In association with a three part BBC TV series, Ray Mears followed the route taken in 1943 along with some present day members of the Royal Marines and the Norwegian Army.
- ISBN 978-1-444-79895-1.
- Minney, R. J.(1956). Carve Her Name with Pride. London: Newnes.
- Tells the story of Violette Szabo (a film of the same name was based on the book).
- Palmer, Mike. S.O.E. CD1 – The Life and Times of Sir Frank Nelson (1st ed.). Palmridge.
- Perrin, Nigel (2008). Spirit of Resistance: The Life of SOE Agent Harry Peulevé DSO MC. Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1-84415-855-3.
- ISBN 978-0-9554868-0-7.
- Orchard, Adrian (February 2006). "Group Captain Percy Charles 'Pick' Pickard DSO**, DFC 1915–1944" (pdf). www oldframlinghamian com. The Society of old Framlinghamians.[permanent dead link]
- Seaman, Mark (1997). Bravest of the Brave: true story of Wing Commander Tommy Yeo-Thomas – SOE Secret Agent Codename, the White Rabbit. Michael O'Mara Books. ISBN 978-1-85479-650-9.
- Seaman, Mark (2006). Special Operations Executive: a new instrument of war. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-38455-9.
- Seymour-Jones, Carole (2013). She landed by Moonlight. London: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-1-444-72460-8.
- Smith, William (2019). WWII Codebreakers and Spies. London: Andre Deutsch. ISBN 978-0-233-00602-4.
- Stevenson, William (2006). Spymistress: the Life of Vera Atkins, the Greatest Female Secret Agent of World War II. Arcade. ISBN 978-1-55970-763-3.
- Tickell, Jerrard (1949). Odette: The Story of a British Agent. London: Chapman & Hall.
Commentaries
- Geraghty, Tony (2000). The Irish War: The Hidden Conflict between the IRA and British Intelligence. JHU Press. ISBN 9780801864568– via Archive Foundation.
Tony Geraghty
- ISBN 978-0-00-750374-2.
- Horn, Bernd (2016). A Most Ungentlemanly Way of War. Toronto: Dundurn. ISBN 9781459732797. Archived from the originalon 2 June 2016. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
- "Notes on S.O.E., 1941 to 1943", written by a member of the Belgian Section, Major G.T.R. Thompson, in 1963
- Interview with secret agent Francis Cammaerts in the Leicester Mercury
- Profiles of Special Operations Executive Agents in France Archived 21 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine at Nigel Perrin's site
- Colin Gubbins, Leo Marks and SOE
- Dudley Maurice Newitt. Director of Scientific Research. SOE.
External links
- The Violette Szabo Museum
- The Special Operations Executive - British Foreign & Commonwealth Office
- Imperial War Museum (London)
- Special_Operations_Executive - Imperial War Museum
- "Mission Scapula" Special Operations Executive in the Far East.
- Target near Glasnacardoch Lodge STS22a
- World War II Canadian Secret Agents
- SOE near Milton Keynes
- The 11th Day Archived 27 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine film about SOE & Crete Resistance, and Patrick Leigh Fermor
- Para-Military Training in Arisaig, Scotland During World War 2 Land, Sea & Islands Centre
- SOE: An Amateur Outfit?
- Secret Army Exhibition at Beaulieu
- Lewis, Damian (22 October 2016). "British Scout master gave special forces their punch and helped them defeat Hitler". The Mirror.